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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28513122">In the spirit of scientific cooperation...</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/USSJellyfish/pseuds/Oparu'>Oparu (USSJellyfish)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, fluff and first meetings, those federation scientific conferences are just great for meeting people</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:28:18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,133</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28513122</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/USSJellyfish/pseuds/Oparu</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>B'Elanna Torres meets Jadzia Dax at a Federation conference. Jadzia convinces her to try some things that aren't on the official agenda.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jadzia Dax/B'Elanna Torres</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the spirit of scientific cooperation...</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>for tumblr's StarTrekExchange, written for hiddeninthunder! </p><p>Thanks for your patience!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Klingon is the last thing she expects to hear at a Federation engineering conference. Polite, not even accented Klingon is definitely not what she should hear. Yet, someone's speaking Klingon, to her, while she gets a coffee. Are Klingons invited to these things now? She's been gone awhile but surely they're not sending scientists--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The speaker is a Trill, which is the absolute last thing she expected. Not some random linguistic nerd Trill either, which might make sense, no this scientist is tall and beautiful and smiling. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That doesn't fit with her knowing Klingon. There's no humor in speaking Klingon. Why is this person smiling?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm sorry, I've haven't spoken Klingon in years."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Oh, my apologies," she says, extending her hand. "I was the Klingon ambassador and I like to keep it up."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"There's no way you're old enough to be the Klingon ambassador." B'Elanna bites her lip a moment later. "Sorry."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm much older than I look," the scientist says. Her hands are cold but strong. "I'm Jadzia Dax."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She looks maybe thirty-five, forty, so it doesn't make sense. Maybe she's still making a face because Jadzia tilts her head and smiles. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Curzon Dax was the Klingon Ambassador."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Which might mean something to someone who wasn't trapped in the Delta Quadrant, or hiding from everything in the Badlands." B'Elanna has to remind herself to not be rude. "I'm B'Elanna Torres, from </span>
  <em>
    <span>Voyager</span>
  </em>
  <span>." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'm from </span>
  <em>
    <span>Deep Space Nine</span>
  </em>
  <span>," Jadzia says, still smiling. "Welcome back."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Thanks, I guess."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So much more paperwork than you ever wanted?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"And the debriefings."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jadzia pats her shoulder. "I bet."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Who is, was, Curzon?" B'Elanna asks. She should wait, be more polite, but she has to know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"My last host."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Host. Like at a party? She follows Jadzia, coffee in hand and sits next to her . It takes her far longer than she's proud of, then she remembers. Trill have symbionts, they can be really really old. So maybe the last one was the Klingon ambassador. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So why don't you like speaking Klingon?" Jadzia asks in between speakers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Reminds me too much of my mother."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jadzia smiles nodding knowingly. "Having had overbearing mothers and been an overbearing mother, I'm sorry." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"She died while I was gone, but we kind of- I guess- we found each other a little before she went, or after, it's complicated.."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jadzia nods, sipping her coffee. How she can understand when she's probably always been graceful and pretty and nice  is beyond B'Elanna, but she's easy to talk to.  Way more fun than listening to another endless holographic slide show about bioneural gel packs and how they won't work on larger starships. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wrote to him, this engineer and I suggested he needed to include the fact that gel packs can be affected by viruses in his presentation and he dismissed me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"The academics always ignore what we grunts in the field have to say, because we haven't researched it. Doesn't matter if we're the people who actually use everything and depend on it to keep us alive."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Are you saying this as an a former academic too?" How many lives does she have stored up? She has very old eyes for someone who has to be close to B'Elanna's age, in this body, at least. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, I haven't been an academic, politician, engineer, gymnast--"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>B'Elanna chuckles, "Can you still backflip?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No." Jadzia finishes her coffee, eyes twinkling. "Can you play tongo?" </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, what's that?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A card game much more fun than this." Jadzia sets her empty cup under her chair. "Come with me."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Where?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Out of here."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>B'Elanna takes another look at the speaker who is about to start and nods. "Okay." </span>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <span>Of course, her new friend is a card shark. B'Elanna didn't think it was actually possible to hustle Ferengi at their own game, but Jadzia comes in with a Starfleet officer's amount of latinum and they leave with enough to buy their own shuttle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"They never think any alien, especially a woman, can beat them at their own game," Jadzia explains over expensive drinks that have real even more expensive alcohol. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So it's your personal mission to teach the Ferengi to be less sexist?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Infinite diversity in infinite combinations," Jadzia teases, eating the garnish in a way that makes B'Elanna a whole lot warmer than the booze. "It also means I never have to bring credits to conferences."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>B'Elanna shakes her head, finishing her drink and trying not to stare at Jadzia's very beautiful lips. "I have seven years of back pay from being trapped in the Delta Quadrant, maybe I should stake you in your next tournament."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Waving down the waiter for another round of drinks, Jadzia leans closer as if starting a conspiracy. "What would you do, with a pile of latinum as big as this table? Buy a starship?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Then I'd have to fix it myself."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Hire a crew?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I wouldn't want to keep paying them."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jadzia laughs, collecting another beautifully colored drink with fruit balanced on top of it. "It's kind of why it's fun to win the latinum, there's nothing I want to buy. Sometimes it's good to have it around, we have a Promenade full of shops on </span>
  <em>
    <span>Deep Space Nine </span>
  </em>
  <span>and more exposure to the galactic economy than I would if I was on a spaceship."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So I should give you all my money."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jadzia reaches across the table, touching her hand with cool fingers. "I'm saying you should visit."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Turning her hand over, B'Elanna welcomes her fingers into her own. "Your hands are cold."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Always are." Jadzia toys with her fingers. "At least at first."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They take their drinks with them, laughing out into the starlit paths between the buildings. Of course, Jadzia's not staying in the hotel everyone was assigned, because she knew a better place to stay. Must come with the lifetimes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>B'Elanna lingers in the doorway of her room, there's no expectation, they can just drink in this hotel bar for a while instead, or head upstairs and talk about how to recrystallize dilithium more efficiently, or Jadzia could teach her Tongo, or--</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"What?" Jadzia asks, standing in the corridor. She seems to belong in a tropical place, with flowers in her hair. B'Elanna is never so effortless. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I won't read poetry." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Tilting her head, Jadzia laughs, sitting on the bed with a wicked smile. "I'm very good at throwing heavy objects."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's just not my favorite kind of foreplay."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Waving her closer, Jadzia parts her legs pulling B'Elanna in. "I wonder what you do like?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Should I tell you?"</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Maybe I should conduct a thorough investigation." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>B'Elanna laughs, running her fingers through Jadzia's hair. "That sounds very scientific."</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'll be exhaustingly thorough." </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Later, wrapped in Jadzia's arms, B'Elanna decides she will definitely have to visit Deep Space Nine, several times.  </span>
</p>
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